Uplift of the downtrodden sections and welfare of the poor will help develop the state, Finance Minister E Rajender has said. During his reply in the Legislative Council to the discussion on the budget proposals for 2016-17, he said that the TRS Government has recognized that the poorest of the poor and deprived classes should be put in the mainstream for growth. With his oratory skills and continuous talk on the proposals, Rajender could calm down the opposition from criticizing the government. Budget usually comprises estimates which are approximate and not accurate as that of account books of a private company, he pointed out. Besides welfare, industry sector is advancing and the Government has distributed free of cost 1.25 lakh pattas to the beneficiaries and took over the lands from illegal grabbers. Stating that laws are not made by God and can be changed to suit the changing welfare needs, the finance minister said that Rs 700 crore was being spent to supply fine rice to welfare hostels as the students are facing pathetic conditions. It is decided to extend this facility to colleges and universities from next year.
The previous governments ignored the poor and deprived classes, and welfare taken a back seat, he charged. ‘Now we are correcting all such mistakes done by previous governments and making allocations suitably to plug the loopholes’ he said. As they have identified the problems existing, steps were taken accordingly giving top priority to the welfare, irrigation and infrastructure in the budgetary allocations, he said. He denied the opposition comments and criticism that the allocations are not factual. Other states are trying to replicate Mission Bhagiratha and other schemes have become popular at national level. The government took a historic decision to surpass all odds of the power sector and able to supply the same to agriculture, industries and domestic needs, he claimed. It is also the Government’s responsibility to distribute irrigation waters to the crops for better yield besides providing timely succor to the farmers, the finance minister said. The budgetary proposals are made based on needs and priorities with a human touch and the vision of the TRS Government under able stewardship of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Rajender added.(NSS)